I, Ireland
What happens when a triple-A rated sovereign government's credit rating is cut? Quite a lot of unpleasant things really. Sovereign rating transitions - at the top end of the scale - are always extremely messy affairs. Losing a triple-A rating matters much more than losing a double-A rating for any institution.... [more...]
Date: 2009-01-14 10:00:37
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NZD weak ahead of 29-Jan RBNZ easing
Risk returned to the forefront last week in many guises, with NZ to the forefront. Generally weak activity/profit figures (globally) and potential credit-rating downgrades (NZ, Portugal, Spain and a downgrade delivered for Greece ... warning for the Government’s offshore credit rating. The net effect was a quick narrowing of the gap [more...]
Date: 2009-01-18 02:45:23
Pakistan on the Brink: From Mr. 10% to Mr. $100B?
During his time as first gentleman to then-President Benazir Bhutto, new Pakistani President Asif Zardari was dogged by accusations of corruption ... sovereign credit rating to CCC+ from B on Monday:Pakistan's credit rating was cut by Standard ... lenders.''Pakistan is the world's riskiest government borrower, according to credit-default swap prices [more...]
Date: 2008-10-08 09:33:00
Credit Ratings Are Often Underestimated
People know that getting into debt can be a bad thing ... underestimate their credit. They figure that if they aren’t financing a vehicle or looking at buying a new home, then they don’t have anything to worry about. Credit governs interest rates and loan [more...]
Date: 2008-12-08 17:01:07
Italy Slips Slowly But Steadily Into Its Worst Recession In Over 30 Years
The Italian economy continued to contract sharply in the third quarter of 2008 as exports fell sharply - declining at the fastest rate in three ... and the danger of a credit rating downgrade. The Italian government went to market this week [more...]
Date: 2009-01-16 21:24:37
2018 - A Vision of the Future
One rainy day earlier this summer, nGenera’s Gov 2.0 Program Director, Dan Herman, locked three summer interns in a room (Ben and Jude, and I) ... now mandatory for any agency that received government funds. They gave citizens access ... account from UniBank. It had low credit rates and high savings rates. Donald thought it sounded good [more...]
Date: 2008-08-14 14:35:13
Italy Slips Slowly But Steadily Into Its Worst Recession In Over 30 Years
The Italian economy continued to contract sharply in the third quarter of 2008 as exports fell sharply - declining at the fastest rate in three years ... and the danger of a credit rating downgrade. The Italian government went to market this week and sold [more...]
Date: 2009-01-16 21:58:17
Ainda o “downgrade” da S&P (3)
Bloomberg The risk of losses on European government bonds is mounting as the economic slowdown threatens credit ratings in Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Greece. Credit-default swaps tied to the debt of Ireland rose more than seven-fold ... to be threatened with a debt downgrade when Standard & Poor’s said the country’s long-term rating [more...]
Date: 2009-01-14 11:03:02
Think Big 3 Bailout's A Good Idea? Jaguar's History Suggests It Isn't
By JOHN TAMNY | Posted Tuesday, January 06, 2009 4:20 PM PT With England's economy gasping in the mid 1970s due to a combination of nosebleed rates ... by the British government in 1975 thanks to skeptical credit markets, and it remained that way until ... . While private companies face bankruptcy if they regularly fail customers, Jaguar's access to the [more...]
Date: 2009-01-07 02:59:00
3rd Wave of Foreclosure Hits The Jobless
People With Traditional Mortgages Who Have Lost Their Jobs Are Now Facing Foreclosure (CBS) ... up. With a government job, good credit, and a 30 year fixed rate loan on her southern California house, Judy ... swept up are not greedy investors, or people who got in over their heads with bad loans, reports CBS [more...]
Date: 2008-11-29 06:00:20
Italy Slips Slowly But Steadily Into Its Worst Recession In Over 30 Years
By Edward Hugh: Barcelona The Italian economy continued to contract sharply in the third quarter of 2008 as exports fell sharply - declining at the ... of the Italian bond spread and the danger of a credit rating downgrade. The Italian government went [more...]
Date: 2009-01-16 21:58:56
Friday morning links
TOP STORIES Credit expenses lead to $2.3 billion loss for Fannie - MarketWatch 2 Banks Buying Back $17 billion in Securities - NY Times Governments cause the credit crisis, but capitalism gets the blame - Telegraph 8 who saw the crisis coming ... Consumer credit jumps at fastest rate in 7 months - MarketWatch HOUSING Foreclosure refugees skipping [more...]
Date: 2008-08-08 13:38:00
Latest News in Mortgages and Home Loans - Nov 11, 2008
AIG Gets More from the Government This morning, the big news (aside from a Chinese economic stimulus announcement) ... . Of course, now the real work begins. While it is unlikely that everything Obama says he would ... to be in the area of fighting … Lending Rates Fall, But Credit is Still Tight Lending rates are falling right [more...]
Date: 2008-11-11 12:25:52
The Fannie/Freddy bailout
It’s almost as if the feds are trying to flush the economy down the crapper ... holders of U.S. Treasury bonds. -Higher rates are bad for anyone with a mortgage, credit card debt, a home equity loan, a margin account, etc. -Higher rates also increase the government’s debt burden [more...]
Date: 2008-07-15 01:21:54
The Lost Decade: How the U.S. Financial Crisis Resembles Japan’s Ten Years of Misery - And How to Play it
If you think the “Lost Decade” Japan endured during the 1990s was deep and painful, stick around: ... were ignited by laughably loose credit policies, smoldered under a lack of oversight from government regulators, market analysts or such private-sector sentinels as credit-rating agencies, and were [more...]
Date: 2008-07-17 14:49:31
Alt-A and ARM resets could trigger another crisis!!!
We are winding down out of subprime and going into Alt-A and ARM resets. We have government funding for homes in two ways. One, incentives with lower rates and tax credits, but, there is more. The GSE’s are allowing loans that are 105% and where the monthly debt to income is over 60%. These loans have high default rates and we will pay the price as unemployment stays high. quote Let’s look at a few facts: The Fed is literally the entire mortgage market. Yes, really. [more...]
Date: 2009-09-29 18:15:58
President Obama to the Aid of Americans Suffering from Debt Apply For Your Government Grant Now
Author : Lindsy Emery It is no secret that the economy is in dire need of a jumpstart With so many out of work, taking cuts in pay, losing homes, cars and having bills that they can no longer afford to meet, Americans are turning to our government for financial help Under the guidance of Barack Obama, our federal government is responding Bills have been introduced that better monitor and control the interest rates and fees credit card companies are allowed to charge Financial institutions [more...]
Date: 2009-09-30 15:50:29
Latest News in Refinancing Home Mortgages - Dec 11, 2008
Mortgage rates foreseen under 4% - Baltimore Sun WASHINGTON Government efforts to provide easier credit to consumers and to help housing finance ... economy and troubled credit markets. Mortgage applications were up 112 percent during the week [more...]
Date: 2008-12-11 12:40:58
N.J. man learns modifying mortgage to cut payments may impair credit rating
by Moe Bedard on September 29, 2009 · 0 commentsin American Nightmare To confuse consumers even more, not all lenders follow the guidelines.That may change on November 1, when lenders can use a new code to report them as a “loan modification under government program.” The code will clarify which borrowers have taken modifications, but because the modification process itself is not streamlined, it won’t be the only worm squiggling out of the can.The bigger impact on credit scores may depend on how [more...]
Date: 2009-09-29 13:48:05
Today in Russian Business - Jan 14th, 2009
The financial crisis is having a dire effect on migrants who depend on money from their employers to support their families back home, ... had its credit rating lowered to 'junk' by Standard & Poor's. The government wants to counter [more...]
Date: 2009-01-14 11:33:41
Totally Disconnected: US Government Risk, Ratings, Bonds and Equities
As part of his seemingly ongoing program to remove systemic risks within the financial and corporate matrix, ... ; Poor’s reiterated its “AAA” rating for the United States, credit default swaps spreads for 10-year [more...]
Date: 2009-01-14 06:52:43
When will the Recession end? Here's a collection of opinions.
This is the subject of my Mini poll which I invite you to vote in just below my Web site clock to the right ... , they are preoccupied with cleaning up their balance sheets after seven months of credit turmoil ... as the government had earlier reported.Economists even found bad news in the fact that the unemployment rate fell [more...]
Date: 2009-01-04 07:44:00
Tories versus loan companies
Tory Housing Spokesman Grant Shapps recently published a report entitled Pay-Day for Loan Sharks which complains that companies lending small sums of ... 10,000% APR. The big conclusion here is that lack of competition in the Payday credit market ... , but if the government thinks that the problem will be solved by lower official interest rates then this re [more...]
Date: 2009-01-09 12:08:03
Ainda o “downgrade” da S&P (5)
Bloomberg Spain may struggle to sell 1.8 billion euros ($2.4 billion) ... . Standard & Poor’s said Jan. 12 it may lower Spain’s AAA credit rating. “There is a clear risk ... of bonds as the prospect of a credit downgrade and a flood of new issues by European governments [more...]
Date: 2009-01-15 09:54:11
Chinese banks facing risks from bad loans
China’s lenders may have evaded the worst of the global credit crisis so far, but they are facing plenty of risks of their own, economists with credit agency Fitch Ratings said Friday. A larger-than-expected downturn ... , which have boosted lending at the government’s behest, will see an increase in problem loans, said [more...]
Date: 2009-01-16 09:39:30
Bailed-Out Banks Stiff Credit Card Customers
Since bailouts are so timely today, Bloomberg weighs in to point out that banks that have been recipients of government bailout money are reacting ... is it that my credit-card loan got pulled? Why am I being charged a higher rate?’” Wonder if Southern ... by charging higher fees on credit cards for consumers. Apparently, they’re trying to get ahead [more...]
Date: 2008-12-19 15:01:55
GMAC Deal Boosts Auto Stocks
The government’s decision to provide $6 billion in financing to steady the lending arm of auto giant General Motors has jolted futures on ... credit rating needed for funding new loans to 621, down from the 700 limit established by GMAC two ... lousy report on home prices, as the S&P/Case-Shiller home price indexes fell to their March 2004 [more...]
Date: 2008-12-30 14:03:40
GMAC Deal Boosts Auto Stocks
The government’s decision to provide $6 billion in financing to steady the lending arm of auto giant General Motors has jolted futures on ... credit rating needed for funding new loans to 621, down from the 700 limit established by GMAC two ... lousy report on home prices, as the S&P/Case-Shiller home price indexes fell to their March 2004 [more...]
Date: 2008-12-30 17:03:00
How The U.S. Government Engineered The Current Economic Crisis
These people (the U.S. government) need to be stopped ... crisis that has now spread to the financial markets in general. The cause was too-easy credit ... administration to find a way to get more loans to “borrowers whose incomes, credit ratings and savings [more...]
Date: 2008-09-26 22:16:34
Breaking News: Washington Mutual to be Acquired by JPMorgan Chase (Update1)
Update1: From USA Today… JPMorgan Chase (JPM) acquired the banking operations of Washington Mutual, (WM) ... Credit Card? » WaMu Increases Online Savings Interest Rate » Cancelling John Hancock Life ... . This makes me wonder if the government might not be picking up some of WaMu’s bad debt to sweeten [more...]
Date: 2008-09-26 01:10:10
asks a good question: If the government were NOT to step in and the "disaster of monumental proportions" were to actually occur, ... of credit default swaps, loan ratings, or the failure of Congress to regulate the trading [more...]
Date: 2008-09-24 21:53:40
What GMAC’s financing means to you
The auto industry got another boost from the federal government this week, in the form of $5 billion in aid to GMAC, ... , but you can have a bad 621 and a good 621,” Griffin said about credit scores. “It doesn’t mean ... for consumers with less-than-pristine credit or those seeking a low financing rate on a new vehicle. Here’ [more...]
Date: 2009-01-02 14:00:09
The Government of Dubai Will Need $19 Billion Dollars in Loans to Stay Afloat This Year
Dubai’s refinancing needs to touch $15b http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/09/01/16/10275943 ... refinancing requirements in 2009 are expected to touch $15 billion (Dh55 billion), according to credit rating agency Moody’s in its latest report. This is nearly half of the total refinancing requirements [more...]
Date: 2009-01-17 06:42:07
Mark Thoma on the Risk Premium
He writes, Tyler Cowen focuses on the misallocation of risk due to government induced moral hazard ... , that raised the demand for AAA and AA securities. The primary misperception was the view taken by rating agencies, and probably by the key sellers of credit default swaps, that house prices could never fall [more...]
Date: 2008-12-28 13:40:02
Banks? Credit Quality Expected to Worsen
Kerry E. Grace reports: Although government support has buoyed U.S. banks, the industry will likely experience overall credit quality deterioration at least through this year, according to a report published Tuesday by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services. S&P [more...]
Date: 2009-01-06 09:09:00
Mortgage Rates Are Falling! Will It Be Enough To Save The Market?
As most people know by now, the government has seized control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ... . Credit score requirements are higher and income qualifications tighter. The net effect ... payments; one could venture to say that credit scores across the population are not as good [more...]
Date: 2008-09-11 18:42:24
Failure to Govern
From Mina Kimes at Fortune: Experts are divided over whether the municipal default rate, which is historically just 0 ... by much, but he argues that the credit stress facing issuers is an overriding concern to investors ... , according to data from Thomson Reuters… The market for municipal credit protection has “quite literally [more...]
Date: 2009-01-09 17:00:30
Caterpillar’s infrastructure prospects
Standard & Poors rates Caterpillar a strong buy because of its potential to sell a lot of tractors as governments around the globe build bridges, ... the purchase or lease of equipment or on major repair and maintenance, according to a recent report ... frozen credit markets was evident in September 2008 at the height of the credit crunch [more...]
Date: 2009-01-06 16:47:51
Borrowers here pay their U.S. insured mortgages
The government’s mortgage insurance program is doing better in Orange County than nationwide, at least as far as defaults go. The Federal Housing Administration has been insuring about 25% of home purchase loans in the county over the past few months, as the chart shows (click to enlarge). Of all FHA loans made in the county from August 1, 2007 (start of credit meltdown) to July 31, 2009, roughly 1.3% have fallen into default.That’s much better than the national rate for the same period, 5.6%. [more...]
Date: 2009-09-12 09:00:41
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